A New Beginning!

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Today marks the first day of our school year for 2015-2016! Not that the kiddos had much of a break between the last day of school (yesterday) and today, but for all of us it means a new beginning. I LOVE new beginnings. To celebrate, I convinced the kiddos I needed a photo of them before breakfast. (I wanted to make sure that they were still clean, hair done, etc.) We also went out to lunch, and are officially starting our 4th of July festivities.

Today is also the beginning of our FIFTH year homeschooling! I can't even believe it. Dinomite and Bulldozer were in preschool when we began. Has time flown by or what? (If you're trying to calculate all of this, remember both Dinomite and Bulldozer were held back last year.)

Lastly, today is the beginning of our THIRD year using a Montessori-inspired method of learning. Just when I thought I was understanding everything and feeling confident in the preschool curriculum, the three older kiddos move up to the early elementary curriculum. Can we say YIKES! Dinomite did dabble in it a little bit last year, but not too much. Bulldozer will continue to work with some preschool materials, but academically he'll be introduced to all of the elementary materials and concepts.

What does that mean for the blog, unit posts etc? Are you ready for this? Wait for it... CHANGE!!! I couldn't be more excited about this. Now before you get too worried, the changes won't be that significant. In fact, I think you'll really enjoy them. It may just take a little getting used to.

Starting with next week, (I still have one more unit to blog about from this year.) you can expect our studies to be divided between five different posts each week.

2) Art & Music: These post will include all of our art and music activities each week. In years past we have not put much emphasis into these subject areas. Now that the kiddos are older and basic fine motor skills are developed, we're ready to dive in and (literally) get our hands dirty. The kiddos are super excited. They have been asking for more art and music activities for a while.

3) Therapies: All of our kiddos receive OT, PT, and Speech at home each day as part of their studies. Therapists do not come into our home mind you. My husband and I work with the kiddos. You've seen some of these activities in the past. We just don't call them therapy. Instead they're known as Practical Life, Sensorial and Grace & Courtesy lessons in the Montessori world. In years past we've put a lot of focus on Practical Life and Sensorial Activities. This year we're going to put a lot of emphasis on Grace & Courtesy as well!

4) Religious Activities: I don't blog about our religious activities often, but they are a very big part of the kiddos' homeschool education. Besides religious activities on our shelves in the classroom, we dedicate one night a week to teaching our children religious concepts in our home. I want to make these activity ideas and printables available to my readers, as well as document all the work the kiddos are doing.

5) Tot & Preschool Activities: All of Sunshine's activities will be included in these posts each week. I have high hopes for her this year, as we finally received cognitive scores from IQ testing. It turns out Sunshine is smarter than the doctors thought. She scored a 92! We couldn't be more excited.

I can't promise that each themed post will be shared the same day, each consecutive week, but you can be sure they'll all be shared by week's end. In regards to other types of posts written by Jason and myself... When we feel inspired, you'll see them. The Learn & Play Link Up will continue. The 12 Months of Montessori Series will continue through December. Then we'll see what new adventures await us. I'm so excited!

Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Up!

This week's features celebrate Montessori. They are full of wonderful information, activity ideas and resources. You would regret not reading each and every post!

Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This new link up is for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

Montessori Education

Homeschool

Sensory Play

Tot and Preschool Trays

Fine and Gross Motor Activities

Kids in the Kitchen

Healthy Recipes for Kids

Arts and Crafts

Natural Living

Free Educational Printables

Family-Oriented Activities

Healthy Living

Your post will be shown on each host’s blog where we will individually pick features every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!